* Nikkei, MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan both up 1.4 percent
* Brent crude near $122 a barrel
* Australian dollar at 29-year high near $1.06
* Gold just short of $1,500 an ounce
(Adds details, updates prices)
By Alex Richardson
SINGAPORE, April 20 (Reuters) - Asian stocks rose on
Wednesday as strong results from chip maker Intel Corp
prompted a rally in tech shares, while renewed strength in
metals prices boosted materials companies and also lifted the
commodity-linked Australian dollar.
Gains in U.S. and European shares on solid corporate
earnings helped soothe market sentiment, which had been roiled
at the start of the week when rating agency S&P warned it could
cut the United States' sovereign credit rating and as
speculation intensified that Greece would need to restructure
its debt.
"We have seen a little bounce, not a big bounce," said
Austock Group senior client adviser Michael Heffernan. "All guns
are blazing at the moment in the right direction and there is
very little blood on the floor."
The euro bounced off two-week low, with business activity
data from France and Germany supporting expectations that the
European Central Bank will continue lifting interest rates,
boosting the single currency's yield advantage over the dollar.
Rising equities and a weaker dollar renewed interest in
commodities, with Brent crude nearing $122 a barrel, copper
rising and gold holding close to a nominal record.
After the Wall Street close, Intel reported strong sales and
forecast quarterly revenues well above Wall Street estimates.
[]
U.S. stocks had been lifted by strong earnings from
materials and healthcare firms such as Johnson & Johnson
.
Japan's Nikkei share average rose 1.4 percent with
chip stocks prominent among the gainers, although some market
players said the Intel report had prompted short-covering rather
than the start of a turnaround in the fortunes of the tech
sector, which has underperformed this year.
"The market is rebounding, but it's nothing more than
short-covering," said Kenichi Hirano, a strategist at Tachibana
Securities. "Investors will not go long until they see Japanese
corporate earnings later this month."
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan
rose 1.4 percent, with the tech sub-index
up 2.5 percent and the materials sector
gaining 2.1 percent.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent on Tuesday, while the
Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.5 percent.
The euro traded around $1.4365, having bounced off a
two-week low around $1.4155 set on Monday.
The European Central raised its key interest rate from a
record low earlier this month, and analysts see further
tightening in the pipeline.
With the Bank of Japan and U.S. Federal Reserve expected to
keep their monetary policy ultra-loose for the time being, the
dollar and yen have become the currencies of choice for the
carry trade -- the strategy of use cheap loans to fund
investments in higher yielding assets.
The hunt for yield is boosting the Australian dollar
, which hit a fresh 29-year high around $1.0599.
Gold traded around $1,497 an ounce, just short of a
record, and silver hit a 31-year high at $44.27 an ounce.
London metal exchange copper rose 1 percent to $9,438 a
tonne.
A weaker dollar tends to boost the attractiveness of
commodities, which are mostly priced in the U.S. currency.
Oil prices rose, helped by a larger-than-expected draw in
U.S. stockpiles. Brent crude <LCOc1> was up 0.5 percent at
$121.95 a barrel and U.S. crude gained 0.6 percent to $108.95.
(Editing by Kim Coghill)
